Pages

Friday, July 5, 2013

July at the St. Helena Island Light Station

JULY 1 - St.
Helena Island is not only a beautiful place by virtue of our
lighthouse which is located on the small islet at its southeastern
corner. The remainder of the island ispart of the Little Traverse
Nature Conservancy which celebrates and preserves thepristine natural
beauty of the main island. The natural beauty which abounds on theisland is exemplified by this splendid stand of Showy Lady Slippers
(Cypripedium reginae) only 1/8 of the expanse of which is visible in
this photograph. If you are interested in more information about this rare plant, Click HEREto go to theWikipedia page on this beautiful wild flower.

JULY 2 - Clearly,
some of the fauna on St. Helena Island have a very different
understanding of the purpose of toilet paper than the humans living on
the island!

July 4 - Volunteer
Mark VanderVelde spent this morning building a bench to be placed on
our new dock at the St. Helena Island light station.

July 4 - After
Mark finished building the new bench for our new dock, Lori Jenks
picked up the router and hand-routed "HEAVEN ON EARTH" on the seating
surface of the new bench. Free-hand lettering with a router requires a
steady hand, and Lori is a master at the art.

JULY 5 - Volunteers
Michele VanderVelde, Joe Lane and Lori Jenks washing the lanternwindows at the St. Helena Island light station this morning. On hot
summer dayssuch as this, works starts early so as to avoid the heat of
the midday sun.

JULY 5 -We
make maximum use of the oil storage building at our St. Helena Island
lightstation, using it to store all our flammable liquids. However,
with only one shelf, thingsquickly got disorganized. After we
transported a second set of steel shelves to the islandduring the
Shepler's Westbound Lighthouse Cruise last Wednesday, head keeper
MaryAnn Moore removed everything from the building, installed the new
shelves, andreturned everything to the building in an organized manner.
THANK YOU for taking careof this much needed improvement MaryAnn!

JULY 5 -A
busy day at our St. Helena Island light station. Volunteers MichelleVanderVelde and Lori Jenks are painting the shutters on the dwelling
the correctgreen coloration after many years of being painted the
incorrect brown color seen here.

JULY 5 -MaryAnn
Moore, volunteer principal keeper at our St. Helena Island light spentpart of today pruning branches which are intruding into the path which
leads to the pittoilets at the St. Helena Island light station.

JULY 5 -We
are elated to see that Michelle and Lori finished painting all three
sets of shutters on the south side of the lighthouse today. Thank you
both for your hard work - it looks GREAT!

JULY 6 - Here are the fruits of Mark and Lori's labor -
the new bench they built and routed for our new dock. Great work! Our
volunteers are great - we couldn't do it without their selfless
assistance.

JULY 6 - Volunteer Mike Hogan working on a wash stand
he designed and built. Thiswash stand will get some heavy use, as it is
to be placed outside the summer kitchen at our St. Helena Island light
station. Super work Mike - thanks for your help.

JULY 6 - Painting the shutters on the second floor
windows on the east end of thelighthouse is certainly not as easy as
painting those on the first floor. Here, painterMichelle VenderVelde
and "spotter" Lori Jenks tackle the task with the aid of a longroller
handle. Great going ladies - LOVE those green shutters. I can't wait to
seethem on the Shepler's Westbound Lighthouse Cruise on Tuesday!

JULY 11 - The
early morning sun bathes the light station to welcomes everyone to a
new day of service and discovery at our St. Helena Island light station
this morning.

JULY 11 - Volunteer
keeper Carrie Burkett sanding and repainting clapboards on the
boathouse at our St. Helena Island light station this morning.

JULY 11 - Volunteer
keepers Deb Fork and Susie Safford busy in the summer kitchen at out
St. Helena Island light station preparing a big garden salad to go with
tonight's supper at the St. Helena Island light station. If you are
interested in volunteering at either of our lighthouses, go to our
website at www.gllka.com and click on the "Volunteer at Cheboygan" or "Volunteer at St. Helena " links for more information.

JULY 12 - The view from the outside dining area at the St. Helena Island light station this morning. In just a few days, this vista will be filled with sail boats heading for the bridge and Mackinac Island beyond as they rush to the finish of the annual Chicago to Mackinac race.

JULY 14 - We seldom know the skills and preferences our new volunteers have when
they arrive to help us at our lighthouses. Soon after volunteerCarrie
Burkett arrived at our St. Helena Island light station on WednesdayJuly
10 it became clear that she was an excellent painter who thankfullyloved to
paint. Eager to help out, Carrie has sent most of the past for dayssanding and painting the exterior of the boathouse, which is looking great as a result. A
big THANK you to Carrie and all our wonderful volunteers who give so
willingly of their time and energy in helping keep the St. Helena dream
alive.

JULY 15 - Volunteers Claudia Douglas and Carrie Burkett
take time to relax and enjoy the bench at the end of our new dock at St.
Helena Island light station this afternoon. You can make some great new
friends at an island lighthouse, free from the stresses of modern day
life.

JULY 17 - After a blistering hot day, the Straits
clouded over quickly and it rained early this evening, providing some
relief from the elevated temperatures. However, the rain did not last
long, and our volunteers at the St. Helena Island light station were
treated to a beautiful evening.

JULY 19 - We had a short but violent pop-up storm blast
through the Straits of Mackinacat around 9:30 last night. While our
volunteers at the light station all fared well, securewithin the
dwelling, "Old Glory" and its normally vertical pole on the gallery
railingdid not fare so well.

JULY 19 - This trunk of a triple-trunked cedar tree at
the northeast corner of the lighthouse was another casualty of last
night's storm which blew throughthe St. Helena Island light station. Fortunately, the trunk narrowly missed theinformation display built by
Boy Scout Karl Koto, for which he earned hisEagle Scout service award
twenty years ago this year.

JULY 19 - Another cedar to the west of the St. Helena
light station which toppled during last night's storm. We used to call
this the "stadium seating" because it's low hanging curved branch served
as a great place to sit and watch the many birds which frequented this
group of trees.

JULY 19 - The final fallen tree photo from last night's
squall at the St. Helena Island light station - this one on the south
side of the lighthouse. We were very fortunate that none of the trees
caused any damage to the station infrastructure, and even more fortunate
that our stalwart volunteers were able to weather the blow within the
safe confines of the main and assistant keepers dwellings.

JULY 19 - Our St. Helena Island light station was not the only location in the Straits ofMackinac to suffer during last night's storm, as can be seen in this photograph courtesyof 9&10 News which shows a semi which was blown over by the high winds as it washeaded towards the Upper Peninsula across the Mackinac Bridge.

JULY 24 - Volunteers
Chuck and Carol Lambert rehang therepainted screen door at the summer
kitchen at the St. Helena lightstation this afternoon. Thanks for the
wonderful help folks!

JULY 24 - We
have a beautiful old barrel which has been sitting outsidethe door at
the rear of the St. Helena Island light station, and while we arenot
sure exactly how it came to be there or what purpose it serves, ithas
been slowly deteriorating over the years. Volunteer Chuck Lambertfelt
pity for the barrel, and put some energy and time into restoring it this
week.Part of the process involved hand-crafting these special nails to
holdone of the loosening hoops in place.

JULY 24 - While
we are still in the dark as to the specific purpose ofthe barrel, it
sure looks great since Chuck devoted his time and energyto its
rejuvenation! Thanks Chuck!

July 25 - Volunteers
Chuck Lambert and Susie Safford take time to pose with their progress
in cutting up one of the trees which was toppled by the wind storm which
hit the St. Helena Island light station a week ago. The devastation of
the storm is necessarily being taken care of slowly in order to ensure
the safety of our wonderful volunteers. Thank you so much for your
dedication.

JULY 26 - This afternoon's steady rains gave way to a beautiful evening
replete with a rainbow to wave farewell to another great day at the St.
Helena Island light station.

JULY 27 - Although they had already spent a week on the
island in late June, Bob and Sue Brunais kindly volunteered to return to
the island today for a couple of days. Bob is a master with a chain saw and his
expertise is welcomed in helping remove some of the remaining trees
which fell during the July 18 storm.

JULY 27 - Thanks to the chainsaw skills of Bob Brunais,
the cedar trunk which was hung up between two adjacent trunks at the St.
Helena Island light station was safely removed, again opening the
sidewalk to foot traffic.

JULY 27 - Lest
we give the impression that it's "all work and no play" for our
volunteers at the St. Helena Island light station, here we see Eric and
Jamie Anderson and their son Taylor and Pan Godchaux returning from a
kayak trip around the island earlier today

JULY 28 - An
early start for the day as volunteers Bob and Sue Brunais clean up
broken limbs on an apple tree to the south of the St. Helena Island
light station.

JULY 28 - After
we removed the cedar that was hung up between two sister trunks at the
northeast corner of the St. Helena Island lighthouse, we found that its
sisters were in very bad condition, showing major cracks and insect
damage.

JULY 28 - Since
the two remaining trunks could do considerable damage to the dwelling
and the information kiosk, we felt we had no alternative but to remove
them.

While
it will take some getting used to the visual change, the removal of the
trees which were formerly located directly in front of the tower at the
St. Helena Island light station brings the light station closer to its
appearance 100 years ago.